Boosting Your Creative Energy
My new blog post over at Music Teachers Blog is about boosting your creative energy. It’s primarily aimed at musicians, but there are some ideas anyone with a creative bent can enjoy too. I’d love to hear your ideas…
Life
An Event Like No Other
Next month, I’m going to a brand new musical in Libbey Bowl, our picturesque outdoor venue here in Ojai. Written by Deb Norton and Chris Nottoli, directors of Theater 150, they will also be starring in the production, accompanied by a chorus, a band, and, according to Deb, “one or more of the following: zip …
Diagnosis of a Faun
Last week, I saw an amazing article in the New York Times, describing the creative relationship between an experienced and adventurous choreographer and a young and talented actor with cerebral palsy. Tamar Rogoff, the choreographer, saw the actor, Gregg Mozgala, in a Shakespeare play and immediately knew that she wanted to work with him to …
Wild Thing
Recently, I went to see the movie “Where the Wild Things Are”, not quite sure whether to trust this expanded and re-envisioned version of the classic picture book, since it had received mixed reviews. It was tremendous. Grounded in the mundane life of a real little boy, Max, when the movie takes us across the …
A Life Less Ordinary
Having seen “The Story of the Weeping Camel” and “The Cave of the Yellow Dog”, Byambasuren Davaa’s engrossing and eye-opening docudramas about life as a Mongolian nomad, I was intrigued to hear that “Tulpen”, a movie about a family of Kazakh nomads, directed by Sergei Dvortsevoy, was screening at our local cinema. This 2008 film …
On hearing Leon Fleisher play Bach
He knows what’s important— the purity, the essence of the music. There’s nothing like not being able to play the piano for forty years to make one appreciate each sound. Each opportunity to create beauty. There’s no excuse, no need for artifice. Each moment has purpose. Years of absence and silence have refined the …
Viva la Vida!
Choir was never like this when I was a child. I always loved singing and developed an affection for a wide variety of repertoire, so choir was an enjoyable experience as long as the teacher wasn’t too boring or bad-tempered. Yet I also remember stony stares from the other children if I sang too heartily …
Why A New Blog?
Why a new blog? Well, this is actually a resurrection, a re-assignation of my blog previously found on my professional website www.free2create.com. I’ve moved for a very specific reason- I want to expand the areas I’m writing about. Yes, I’m a professional musician, teacher and coach. I’m also, like you, much more than what I …
Intuitive Improvisation And Some News…
I am delighted to announce that my latest article on intuitive improvisation has been published in the December/January issue of American Music Teacher, along with a number of other great articles on improvisation. I chose to focus on games and exercises for teachers who may not have ever improvised themselves. I give practical approaches that …
Ten happenings
Ten happenings: I’m on vacation in England with Robert. I’ve remembered just how much I love being here. I met up with a friend I haven’t seen in 17 years, although we’ve been friends for 37 years! Since we last met, she got married and had two girls who are now 11 and 13. We …